Electromagnetic throat microphone



May 25, 1948. J. 5. P. ROBERTON ELECTROMAGNETIC THROAT MICROPHONE 5 sheds-sheet 1 Filed Nov. 24, 1942 v new.

Arrbklvfr J. S. P. ROBERTQN ELECTROMAGNET I C THROAT MI CROPHONE Filed Nov. 24, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v ELG. /O. M

ATTOR/Vf) y 1948- J. 5. P. ROBERTON 2,441,975

ELECTROMAGNETIC THROAT MICROPHONE Filed Nov. 24, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 IG I 9 5 V I g 60 I 50 5c T I J0 2c z'a I00 2 J 4- ,5 moo 2 J 4 J me ca mmumcr lA/Vf/VTUR Q/JR/ZaM .May 25, 1948. I -J. s. P. ROBERTON 2,441,975

ELECTROMAGNETIC THROAT MICROPHONE Filed Nov. 24, 1942 5 Sh eets-Sheet s INVE/VTUR Patented May 25, 1948 ELECTROMAGNETIC THROAT MICROPHONE James Samuel Paterson Roberton, London W. C.

2, England,

- Electric Corporation,

In Great 6 Claims. 1

paratively stifi spring e. g. in an electromagnetic microphone to suspend the magnet system by means of a stiff spring from the plate in contact with the throat, the armature of the magnet be ing secured to this plate.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a contact microphone having better characteristics than those hitherto known.

According to the present invention we provide a microphone comprising a plate of light nonmagnetic material, a magnetic armature fixed to said plate, a magnet system supported by stiff springs from said magnet armature and a cover totally inclosing the magnet system and loosely coupled to the remainder of the microphone.

The driven part of the microphone must be of small mass in order to give uniformity of characteristics under varying conditions of use. In order to avoid adding the mass of the cover to that of the driven system the cover is loosely coupled to the remainder of the microphone by mounting it Withsome degree of flexibility and providing means for damping its vibrations. Noise picked up by the cover from an external sound field is thus largely dissipated in the coupling and is not transmitted to the microphone. With this arrangement it is immaterial whether the cover be mounted on the base plate or on the magnet system. 7

An important subsidiary feature of the construction according to the present invention is that the magnet system is supported from the armature in such a manner as to have more than one mode of vibration which varies the average air gap between the magnet poles and the armature and thus to allow of the main resonance being placed lower in the frequency range than has been the case in known forms of contact microphone, as is described fully hereinafter. For this purpose the magnet system is supported from the armature by stiff springs at three'points outside the plane of the air gap so that the suspended system may rockabout axes parallel to the driven system to vary the average air gap and thus give rise to resonances which augment the upper frequencies in the range to be reproduced.

. The nature of the invention will be better understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings .in which: i

assignor to International Standard New York, N. Y.

Application November 24, 1942, Serial No. 466,736

Britain November 28, 1941 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled laryngaphone, with the cover removed.

Fig. 2 shows the different parts to be assembled to form the structure of Fig. 1, together with the cover.

Figs. 3-5 are views of certain of the parts shown in Fig. 2 but from aspects other than those given in Fig. 2.

Figs. 6 and 8 show electrical analogues of two different structures, the mechanical systems of which are shown diagrammatically in Figs. 7 and 9 respectively.

Figs. 10 and 11 are respectively a simplified electrical analogue and mechanical system.

Figs. 12 and 13 are curves illustrating the response of laryngaphones to speech frequencies.

Fig. 14 shows one manner of supporting two laryngaphones on the throat of a user. 1

Referring to the drawings, and first to Figs. 1 to 5, a base plate IE3 which is to contact with the throat is made as lightas possible and consists of a curved plate of. moulded material such as synthetic resin or thermoplastic material shaped on one face to make contact with the throat. It is formed with loops II by which it may be held by a tape against the throat, or incorporated in any suitable form of neck harness. On the face away from the throat, a rectangular depression [2 is provided in which is fixed a plate l3 of magnetic material; to ensure a firm joint which will transmit vibration without loss, the magnetic plate I3 is assembled with a suitable adhesive in addition to two fixing screws M which pass through holes in the base plate and into tapped holes I5 in the plate l3. To avoid discomfort to the wearer from projecting screws or from sharp edges, these fixing screws M are sunk into the moulded base plate and the hollows above their heads are filled in either with suitable filler such as wax, or with small discs l6 of synthetic resin or similar material cemented in. For the same reason the face in contact with the throat is well rounded. It is of importance that the adhesive should completely fill up any space between the magnetic plate I3 which acts as the armature ofthe magnetic system, and the base plate In in order that the vibrations of the base plate It] shall be completely transmitted to the armature t3. On the magnetic plate l3 a magnet system is supported by a three point. suspension consisting ofthree fiat strips ll of springy material acting as cantilever springs and three coiled springs l8. Fixing screws 19 pass through the coiled springs l8 into the plate; the coiled springs are under compression and together with the flat springs have sufficient stiffness to prevent the magnet system from pulling in to the flat plate under the steady force of magnetic attraction. f j

The magnet system consists at a blockshaped permanent. magnet 2lof magneto thermally treated material clamped between two T-shaped pole pieces 22. The stem 22aof each pole-piecef FK/ L,

carries a coil 23 and extends towards the aforementioned plate l3 of magnetic material which forms the armature. The use otthe above-menr tioned material for the permanent magnet; en);

ables the magnet system to be of smallmfiss; V

The three fixing screws [11, and coiled springs 58 provide a ready means of adjusting theairgaps between the pole tips and the armature so'that 4 n=number of: turns on the windings,

Zm-X equencyt v1, vz=velocities of the driven and suspended sys tems respectively.

Refeifring to Figs. (and 9 it will be seen that "a force: )n' due: to the eiiternal noise field is shown actingf ofi thefooven; ,It has been found that when the microphone is used in a noisy situation, a noise-voltag is generated in the microphone due to; relative moiiipn of the masses M and m under they are equal and uniform; three locki lllts 2i);

between the coiled springs and the base plate are then tightened to retain the, adjustment,

At one end of thebase, plate. upraised' portions pr-q deimounti sffor th ee t mi ls 2 th outsideter-minalsare: connected to. the, windings, while the centre terminal is soldered directly to a tag on; one of the suspension springs, so providine a frameconnectionfon earthing purposes. A light cover 26 of moulded syntheticmesiri material; for;- example; is fixed by, twoself-tapping screws; 33; to the. uprais'ed\ portion. 21. of the base plate. The cover is lined. with. soft materiaL such as felt or chamois leather which, closes the gap between the cover and. the base plate and slightly;-deuinp s the vibration of the latter; It. may, if; desi'r ed carrya} magnetic; screen 01%, be made entirely of magnetic material. for screen; ingpurposes. Since the screws 33, extendpajr- 'allel to armature l3, the,cover i nexihly mi limeare defined below.

yj vibromotive time. due t6 vibration. Off the larynx. e V

fnvibro otive fierce 6.116; tdexternai noisefield.

mi;efie'ctiize, massoi the la'rynxgahd; pastes the fleck bh, ahs fiitsvibratmn to; the m tme 12 0116. r V

pthedrivenmass i" he r ph ne of:

the baselplatean 'nar s.fixe i ereto),..

M=suspended mas s i'. e. the mass'of-t-hem-ag-net' sy tem,-

mc=mass of the cover.

S=stiifness of the suspension springs;

the impress of the sound field; most of the noise is picked up by the cover and communicated to the rest of the system. a

It. will also. be" seen from ;Eigs;.6',V7=, 8 and 9, that; if; Tc be made infinitely 1arge',:which2is equiv'- alent to. bringing the cover,intogrigid'mechanibalz contact with the base plate, that thetcoiter'mass me. then.- actsi wholly in. series with the-masses m1- andima. llfihowevenre isimadevery small; and: also Se is; pxonoxztioned so; hat: itsn'neactance at: th' l we t fr qu ncy: (and. thereforeiat iliother I f quencies also) ofithexmice: ranee nden-cem S6,:stifiness of; the cover supporting spring in Figs; 61 and; 7", or of thecover fixing screws-in Figs. 8- and'9. r=mechanicalresistance due 'tothe neck, plusair-damping on th driven system etc; R=mechanicaliresistanceactingmnthesuspencled:

system. re=n1echanical resistance due to the damping; material: betweenthe: cover and the base plate. G=-force factor E volts. generated per: unitrela-.

tive velocity of: tems.

E=E. M. generatedi in therwindingszon the microphone.

thedriven and; suspended; sys-h.

sidjfi i zlii lis; .90, llel /second isi me t 09 12 paredz with the nea tan e at me: t n't e-ne s nicked: uni n th carer s net; commu cated: t heflbo y o t el ic ophoneand t e ma siof the.

cover is virtually isolated: from-themest oi the; system. Since-theresistanc es r antlReare small compared: with thereactances 0i the corre sponde s se and thev'm y-b negle ted in deriving theiorinulafor the E; generated. T e s hem ticsr f es. 6 and8L hBndi1QeLtQthe. i li1 3261r f rm I OW L IQ E 'e 10..whi1e themee ehanical system may he. corresnqn i ely shQw' i. n imhl fiediorm. asirt He. 11:;

Rei ting; new toiFigi. 10,.the E F; develpped. p r um; of the win i g is equal. o the force,

factor d ideri; by he. t ns; nd u t pli d y'. t e

relative velocity or the driven system and suspe d yst m 1 tw solving thenetwork of'l ige10; it cameasily; be shown that a If" no microphone were present; the -throat velocity'wouldbe- H e fi' I Equa'tiQn'. 1 can; then, ba re-written in: the: fcfllew n z nmi 5* ft e m irqm- Which-i s fitment-mat the. mieiopnpne frei entv h racteristi" has hetfteeuenlciig' chameteristiic of the fi idal vlelQ iitlltmult plicity a. constantv A ,7 Q

and by a factor I 2 i a (ewhich is variable with frequency. It is known that the ratio of the throat velocity microphone itself should have a compensating characteristic, i. e. efliciency should be directly proportional to the square of frequency, as is known; To this end it is known to fix the resonance frequency corresponding to we at a value near the top of the frequency range to be reproduced. Then in the region where w is much less than we, the factor approximates to of 12 db. per octave which corresponds tothe de- 1 sired quadratic law. At frequencies above we, of'

course, the output of the microphone tends to fall off rapidly.

Unfortunately, the higher the value of we, the lower is the sensitivity of the microphone; this is shown by the factor We therefore find that a better overall result is obtained by arranging we near the middle of the frequency range to be reproduced, and using other means to flatten the combined frequency characteristic of microphone and throat at frequencies higher than we. This is achieved by permitting the suspended system more than one mode of vibration and arranging that the various modes of vibration come into resonance at suitable points within the frequency range. Equation 3is derived on the assumption of.only one mode .of vibration of the suspended system in which the latter moves perpendicularly to the driven system. In fact there are other modes of vibration which occur, for example, rocking or rotational motions of the suspended system about axes parallel to the driven system. These other modes of vibration cause a net change of airgap length because the plane of the suspension springs is above the plane of the armature. Figures 12 and 13 show how the desired result is attained. Fig. 12, curve A represents, on a decibel scale, the variation with frequency of the throat velocity tween 3 and. 4 grams.

' ing the ordinates of curves A and B. Similarly curve C shows the-microphone characteristic for a value of we corresponding to 1500. p. s., while curve E shows the combined characteristic ob-. tained by adding ordinates of curves A and C.

These curves all refer to systems having a single resonance.

In Fig. 13 curves D and E of peated, and in addition curve F shows the output for a microphone having 3 modes of vibration. It will be seen that the mean sensitivity of the microphone represented by curve F is about 12 db. greater than the sensitivity of the microphone represented by curve D, and that themean output above a frequency of 2000 p. s. is approximately equal in the two cases. The threepeaks of curve F correspond to resonance in the three modes of vibration. The resonances are spaced throughout the upper part of the range of frequencies to be reproduced, so as to give as'flat a curve as possible. Independent control of the resonant frequencies is possible because they depend on constants, the relationships of which with the dimensions of the microphone arts, are different for the various modes. The two'upper resonances shownin curve F are due to rocking of the magnet system about two axes at right angles, both parallel to the armature l3: The moments'of inertia and stiffnesses of the magnet system are both different for these two'modes of vibration.

Certain other desiderata become clear from the equations derived for the E. M. F. per T turn. From (1) it is evident that in addition to the effect of we on the efficiency, other conditions for maximum outputare as follows:

(a) m should be a minimum. Since m=m1+m2 of which 1121 is given, then me should be amini mum. 7 l

(b) G/n should be a maximum. --G/n is a parameter defining the efficiency of the magnetic circuit, which by correct choice of materials,

dimensions of pole pieces and airgap, and polar-' ising flux density, may be made a maximum for, say, a given weight of the suspended system consisting of the magnet, pole pieces and windings. The value of G/n could be increased by increasing the size of the system generally, but this'has the disadvantage of increasing the overall weight.

From the Formula 2 may be deduced the conditions for least variation of am with variation of m. The driven mass m will vary, of course, because of diiferences in mi from one wearer to another, also the amount of mi effective in any given case will depend on such factors as location of the microphone on the neck, and the pressure employed. It will be clear from Formula 2 that if M is small compared with m, then variations of 112 will have a negligible effect on we. As M is made smaller, however, s must also be decreased, to preserve the relationship of (2) in which we is given. S must be sufficient to avoid pulling in of the suspended system towards the armature against the restoring force of the suspension springs; hence, there is a minimum value of m determined by this requirement.

We find that 1111 is surprisingly low, being be- If me has a value about three times 1221, i. e. 10.5 grams, and M has a value about twice 1121, i. e. '7 grams, then a reasonable compromise is reached between the above- Fig. 12 are re-' arc ers desiderazta, some; of. which are. con-:- fiiclting. Moreover, the total: weight of" a: unit, including the. weight of thecover; is then; about 20 sov'that the unit: is: light anda'easyto:

Cbnvenientlm, two laryngaphones are mounted as. shown; in Fig" 1d so: that theyfit. on the twosides of the: larynx. The adjacent loops II. at the two units are joined. by apiece otflexible but comparatively inextensi'ble material 2& which thus declines the relative positions of the two units; A flexible-- extensible; strap 29 clips in. the other loans: and extends: around. the: neck of the user. Preie'rably the strap is: in two portions and one. end iszfixed to: a wire clip 30-, which can be clipped inone of the loops II-. The clip 30: is integral wither tongue 3 I: which can be moved by the hand of. the'user to disengage the; clip- 31]; from its loop I l case of emergency.

'I'he two laryngaphones are connectedin series saith tympanum' being adapted: tor'ba placed in contact with. the source of saidvibrations and forming a portion of said casing, a magnetic armature: rigidly fastened to: said. tympanum,

GIQCtYOFfiCDIlStiC. t-rans'ducing, means comprising a.

magneticwsystem' positioned withinsaidicasing and actuated; by-saida-rmat-ure, a spring couplingbetweem said-5 armature and said ma neticsystem permitting rocking: movements of the armature with respect to the magnetic system, and means for reducing. the pick-up of undesired vibrations by said casing. i p i 2"... A microphone comprising. electro-acoustical transducing-means, an. opencasingtoreceive andv to act as a cover for. the transducing means, a base plate to-close the casing, a relatively elastic mechanical: coupling; between. base plate and.

transducing means to transduce acoustical. vibnationsa acting upon the baseplate, a. flexible but none-elastic. lining filling, substantially the spacerbetween said casing and the edges of." said base plate, thereby providing. substantially acoustic insulation between said cover and. transducing-means;

3 -In-amicrophone, electroeacoustic transducingwmeans, aniopen. casing to receive: and? to. act

respect to the. magnetic system, said armature having .afmain resonance in the middle 8; of the operating frequency range andat least one subsidiary resonance in the upper part of the range.

4. A microphone comprising electro-acoustical transducing means, an open casing to receive and to; act as a cover'for the transducing: means; a base plate toclose the casing, an: acoustical mechanical coupling between base plate and transducing means to transduce acoustical vibrations acting upon the base plate, and means associ'ated with the casing to reduce the-transduction of acoustical vibrations acting upon the casing, said transducing means comprising a magnetic system, an armature associated therewith and rigidly attached to the base plate, and a spring couplingbetween armature and: magneticsystemv permitting: rocking movements of the armature withrespect to the magnetic-system, said spring coupling including a three-point spring support consisting of! three cantilever lea-f springs: attached to the" magnetic systemiand three" (EDIE-- pressed coil springs coupling the armature to the: leaf springs.

5. A microphone includingxan exterior casing, a tympanum for picking up operating vibrations, said tympanum being adapted to be placed in contact with the source of said vibrations and forming a portion of said casing, a magnetic armature rigidly fastened to said tympanum, electro-acoustic transducing means comprising a magnetic system positioned within said casing and actuated by. saida-rmature, a spring coupling between: said armatureand said, magnetic system. permitting rocking, movements ofthe armature with respectto-the. magnetic system. said spring.

coupling. including a three-point spring support consisting of three cantilever leat springs; attached to the magnetic system and; three compressed' coil springs coupling thevannature-to the leaf springs-L V 6; Amicrophone according to claim. 5 wherein an adjusting screw is associated with each canti lever leaf spring and-"coilspring and isadiustable tovary: the'air gap between the magnetic system. and said armature. V

JAMES SAMUEL PATERSON ROBERTON.

REFERENCES-1 CITED The following references are of record in the file of this-patent? V I um'rnns'rniins-reirrnnrrs Date 

